1 10 7 https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/dfbf6af63c6880208d6f2a4b74666043.pdf bc0fa720807c91bfcd75f5147731daf0 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-550_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University --and to be quiet together for a spell, to sit, to think, to feel our way into each other's joys and sorrows, to surround ourselves with the growing sense of collective destiny. Each one of us has his own cares and burdens, his own world of involvements and complexities, of stresses and strains, of lights and shadows, of heights and depths, of pain and pleasure, in ways that are commonplace and in ways that are shocking. No one of us can live unto himself, however hard he tries. We are so deeply involved in each other and in others that often it is difficult to determine where we begin and the other leaves off. And perhaps in the quietness, we may sense the mystery, and wonder, and the magic of our relatedness, and in that relatedness become aware, each after the pattern of his own sensitiveness, of the emotions in our midst, of the living Spirit of the living God in whom we live, and move, and ever be. We discover here in the quietness may inform all the boundless, limitless spread of mankind everywhere to the end, that what we do, we know must be done with an eye single to its bearing upon the least, the greatest, and the wisest, and the [INAUDIBLE], most foolish, the [INAUDIBLE] and the righteous of all the children of men. Whisper in our hearts, oh, God, our Father, the assurance that what we seek when we are most [INAUDIBLE], Thou seekest, and that when we stumble, Thou dost stumble, when we rejoice, Thou dost rejoice. Oh, Thou Redeemer of the thoughts, and the memories, and the souls of man, speak unto us that we may live, breathe through us that we may live, think through us that we may live. For without Thee, oh, God, there is nothing, not even we ourselves. This is the simple quivering of our spirits as we wait in the quietness for the movement of Thyself within us. Amen. On the parables of Jesus-- "and one of the company said unto Him, 'Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.' And He said unto him, 'Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?' And He said unto them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.' And He spake a parable unto them, saying, 'The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, "What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?" And he said, "This will I do-- I will pull down my barns and build greater barns. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.'" But God said unto him, "Thou fool. This night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.'" 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu I now would like to read a paragraph written by a man from the Middle East, which gives a rather significant commentary on a certain aspect of our life. And I want you to hold this in the background of your minds also. Pitts Theology Library Emory University "You call your thousand material devices labor-saving machinery, yet you are forever busy. With the multiplying of your machinery, you grow increasingly fatigued, anxious, nervous, dissatisfied. Whatever you have, you want more. And wherever you are, you want to go somewhere else. You have a machine to dig the raw material for you, a machine to manufacture it, a machine to transport it, a machine to sweep, a machine to dust, a machine to carry messages, a machine to write, a machine to talk, a machine to sing, one to play at the theater, one to"-- can't even read my writing. One to do something. Oh, "one to sew," S-E-W. [LAUGHTER] "And to do-- and a hundred others, to do a hundred other things for you, and still you are the most nervously busy people in the world. Your devices are neither time-saving nor soul-saving machinery. There are so many shops [INAUDIBLE] which urge you to invent more machinery and do more business." And now, the story that Jesus tells is a very simple and very dramatic one. The picture is carefully and skillfully etched. A man who is doing well and his farm has produced many things, more than he can handle and dispose of, and he says, I will make room for them, which is a very sound way to do it, I suppose. I will make room, so that I may store all of these things. And then I will stop worrying about them. I'll just-- I know I'm all set for life. And now, I will proceed to enjoy life. And very dramatically, Jesus says that the man's a fool because that night, he dies. And he didn't have a chance to enjoy anything after all. Would he have been a fool had he lived in the story? What about that? It's interesting. [LAUGHTER] Maybe he would have had time. Or is there such a thing as time for this? It's interesting. Let your mind play with that after now. But don't run off. One of the most impressive memories of my childhood is a memory of a man who lived in our hometown, a man from Hartford, Connecticut. I'm from Florida. And Florida's-- my little town in Florida was the famous place for wintering for people who could not stand the rigors of the North and who were able to do something about it. I had a job raking leaves after school in this man's yard. He had a very large place. And it's a good school job that-- and often he would walk out of the yard and talk to me about Hartford, Connecticut. That's where he came from. And it's the first time I'd ever heard of Hartford, Connecticut. And he was a very important insurance man there. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And we developed an interesting little friendship-- this fine wealthy well-to-do man who found some fellowship in talking with this school boy. One Saturday, I came to work. And he called me from the window. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And he said, come in. I want to talk with you. I don't think you'd better rake leaves today. And he sat me down. And for some hours-- I don't know how long, but all of the time that I should have been outside raking leaves. Of course, it was all right with me. [LAUGHTER] He told me the story of his life-- I wondered why he was doing it-- and of his struggles, and his accumulation of his wealth, and his economic security, and his power-- talked about it in detail. And then he told me-- showed me a telegram that he'd received from his son. And then he started talking about his son, and then about his daughter, and then about his wife. And then he began weeping. And he said-- and this is what I remember. He said, I have spent an entire lifetime doing two things-- accumulating wealth and devoting the rest of my energies to concentrating on my children and my wife. I have looked at those two things all my life and at nothing else. And as I became all set, so that I did not have to worry about money, then the energy that I had been placing there, I put at the disposal of my children. And now, said he, they have all gone sour. And I have no choice but to continue concentrating upon them. Do you think a man like me, this late at life, can learn how to develop an interest in people to whom he is not related and to whom he is not obligated? My first year of divinity school-- all this has a point. You'll see. So just be patient. My first year in divinity school, I had a wonderful Big Ben pocket watch. And it had a loud tick. And whenever I went anywhere to speak, a part of the pretensions was to take this watch out and put it up here, you know? And pulpits were somewhat hollow. And it made a sounding board for the watch. And you could-- those who sat near could hear this thing ticking. And I spoke unhurriedly and with a lot of quiet stretches. And I wasn't bothered by it, but other people were. So a friend of mine gave me a beautiful thin white gold Elgin watch, that one would have to hold it here to hear it tick. Now, before I was given that watch, one night each week I had a study group of men and women who were employed and who were not free from their work until after 10 o'clock at night. So I walked a couple of miles across town to have this study group. And we would get through about 12:30, 12:45. And then I'd walk all the way back and think nothing of it. But after I had the watch, I was afraid to walk back lest someone might rob me. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu He would, in exchange for those funds, give to the person bringing the offering all the rich land around which the person could run from sunrise to sunset. You get the picture. So the hero of Tolstoy's tale came, and brought his offering, and started running. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And he wished, as he ran along, that he had slept all night so as to have been refreshed for this running. But his mind was harassed. And he was excited and anxious about this rich land because all of his life, he had wanted rich land. And it had shuttled in and out between all of the dreams of his youth. And he kept running, kept running, his feet beating a rhythmic pattern on the soil-- rich land, rich land, rich land. Until at last, he looked up, and he saw that the sun was beginning to dip behind the trees. And he knew that despite his exhaustion, despite all of the weariness of his body, he would have to put forth now the last tremendous effort in order to get back to the starting place before sunset. And he could hardly make it. But he knew he had to make it because this is it. This is the fulfillment of my dream. Everything else will be possible for me now that I have the rich land, rich land. And when he got back to the place at which he started, Tolstoy says, he dropped dead. And they took him aside and buried him six feet under the ground. And that's all the rich soil he could use. Now, I want to ask you two questions. And these questions presuppose a very simple observation that does not require any wisdom. We are human beings living in a society. And we do have the intricate and devastating problem of trying to protect ourselves from the impersonal workings of the world of nature by wearing clothes, by getting houses to protect us from the storm and the weather. We also must protect ourselves from the impersonal operations of the social order by insulating ourselves with barriers of one kind or another that will give to us a quiet moment of retreat in security, that we may stabilize our common life, and rear our children, and eat, and have some [INAUDIBLE] from the impersonal ravages of a ruthless economic order. That's obvious. It is also obvious that we are so involved in the kind of order which is our familiar that, almost unconsciously, we measure values in terms of economic units. As one contemporary writer says about a certain man, "his eyes were dollar signs that glowed in the dark." Now, we recognize that this is a practical world in which you must have food to eat, with which you must make some measure of peace in order to survive. Now, let's-- we recognize that now. [? Let ?] the perpetuation of the things in which, by your own admission, you have either an intellectual, moral, or spiritual stake. If you measured your life in terms of your units of concentration, if your units of concentration could be transposed in terms of values, what would they look like? Let's not hurry over that. What would they look like? Take your day, take your week-- let's think about ourselves now. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Take your week-- how much of your energy, time, during the past seven days, have you spent involved in things in which you believe? Or has your time been spent getting these things out of the way, so that you can have 10 minutes to give? Or are you spending your energy and your time working on behalf of those things? What about it? Pitts Theology Library Emory University Or do you say to me that if I had all of my other problems solved, then, of course, it would be a reasonable thing to assume that I could give my mind and thought over to these luxuries of the spirit or luxuries of the mind? Is that the way you feel? That so much of your energy and time must be spent, for instance, in the ordinary, crass business of earning a living, guaranteeing your protection against either one, or the other, or both of these impersonal forces about which I spoke a moment ago. And therefore, it is not a reasonable thing to assume that you can give your time and thought to something else. What about it? Now, the second question-- how much detachment-- how much detachment do you practice with reference to the things that encumber your life? How much of you do you put at the disposal of trying to work out the problem of your involvement? What is your fundamental attitude towards money, for instance? Is it an instrumentality by which you communicate and make active your will to dominate and control your fellows, which is a perfectly good question to ask? Now, you can do that, you see, not merely if you are a person of great and vast economic power. I remember that when I had my little church in [? Oberland ?] when I was in divinity school, we wanted to send one of our boys to a student-- a high school conference down in North Carolina. And I asked for all the high school girls and boys if they would join me in selling to the community whole boxes of [? Schrafft's ?] Candy. They urged churches to do that, where you would pay $0.80 or some amount for the candy and sell it for $1.20. It was if you bought it piece by piece, it was a nickel apiece because you could get it out of the store for that. And these girls and boys agreed to do it. They were quite excited about it because one of their fellows was going to go down to North Carolina and attend this conference. And I came in to the young people's meeting one Sunday afternoon. And they had decided to take the place apart. They were just high school people [INAUDIBLE] for all that candy. And these youngsters have agreed to sell it. And you're to give it to them tonight. Now, if you offend them, even though they are completely in error here, then they will not sell the candy. And if they don't sell the candy, then you are out of the money. And this boy [? Hoffman ?] will not be able to go to the conference down in North Carolina. Now, all of that went through my mind in a split second. Now, they had no money. But they-- so I told them what I thought of them, and did it, perhaps, with much more intensity because of my own inner battle, you see, then I would have had I had no struggle going on. And they agreed that I would sell my own candy. 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu [LAUGHTER] And I waited. And I think that one of the things that life teaches you, more and more, is to learn how to wait. That you can-- if you just wait and don't run a temperature, sit it out. And about Wednesday, they came around. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, that's very crude. But we are always tempted to do that with even a little bit of economic power. If this doesn't go well, then how shall I express my feeling about it. I shall withdraw my economic support. You can do that. It's simple. And that is another way of saying that my economic support-- may-- it may be a way of saying that my economic support must be alongside of and in behalf of the thing to which I am committed and in which I believe. Now, my behavior may be of that kind if that is my position. But most often it is if my will is thwarted, then I use my economic support on behalf of judgement and punishment for those who thwart my will. How are you related to your money? How are you related to it? And it is no answer to say you don't have any. That's no answer. How are you related to your money? Is it a part of your commitment to God? Or is it a part, merely, of your commitment to yourself? That's the crucial question. If I give all of my life goods to support causes in which I do not believe, or if I withhold the bowels of my generosity and compassion from the need that always hammers at my door, then I will never find freedom of mind, of spirit, of heart. Therefore, Jesus raises with awful insistence, what would I give in exchange for my life? Do I give my money, my things? And I am so attached to them that to detach myself from them is equivalent to destroying myself. Or is it possible for me to put at the disposal of the fruits of my labor, bearing in mind that everything that I have I have it because of a lot of other people's work, and a lot of other people's labor, a lot of other people's sacrifice, a lot of other people's self-denial? And it's the most stupid thing in the world for a man to say, I did this myself. He didn't. Now, are you willing-- and I'm through now. Are you willing to put the resources of your mind at the disposal of trying to work out the most creative way by which you can live your life, placing your positions at the disposal of that to which you are committed? And the degree to which you are able to do that, you will find peace of mind and freedom of soul. What about it? Are you willing to try it and see what happens? 6 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-550_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 6/9 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 7: Rich Young Fool (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Oct 28 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-550_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 7: Rich Young Fool, 1951 October 28 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-10-28 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource In this final entry on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman examines the Parable of the Rich Fool. The overarching question for Thurman is this: How do we relate to the money and resources that we have? We aspire to protect ourselves and make flourishing lives with our resources, but we also find ourselves measuring our value by these things. Thurman suggests that we measure our lives by our commitment – not by how much we have, but rather if we use our goods for things in which we truly believe. Thurman invites us to ponder whether our possessions are more valuable than peace of mind and freedom of soul. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/b97b17e90c5a3175c2ae5a5dd8ff9e9f.pdf 1e316f530e6016d6254307e41b11642a PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-547_A.mp3 But I am the quietness. Each one seeking the level of his own resting place. Each one reaching out for peace of mind and spirit in terms that he can understand, and in ways that are meaningful. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Crowding around the quietness, the many-tongued voices of the traffic of our lives, the restlessness of our age, the churning tumult of our times, the quiet frustrations, and the riotous frustrations in the midst of which we live and the temple of which we have somehow committed to our hearts and minds. All these surround us in the quietness. And yet we recognize the privilege of unhurried contemplation, of laying ourselves bare to the searching processes of singleness of mind. The privilege of becoming aware of needs of which we are scarcely conscious in our fevered rush. The privilege of healing voices that need not speak above a whisper in our hearts, pointing to us the way that we should take in the midst of our own problems and responsibilities, our own hopes and our own fears. The time of quiet, the time of searching of heart, the time of regaining of prospective, time of lifting of hopes about ourselves and the world, the time of insight, the time of the renewal of courage. Oh, God our Father, we thank Thee for the quiet time, and for all that it says to the weary, to the proud, to the self-righteous, to the fearful, to the human spirit. Accept our thanks, Oh, God, our Father. Amen. Once more He proceeded to teach by the seaside, and a huge crowd gathered around Him. So He entered the boat on the sea and sat down while all the crowd stayed on shore. He gave them many lessons and parables and said to them in the course of His teaching, listen, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, a chance that some seed fell on the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Some other seed fell on stony soil where it had not much earth. And it shot up at once because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun rose, it got scorched and withered away because it had no root. Some other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it so it bore no crop. Some other seed fell on good soil and bore a crop that sprang up and grew, yielding at the rate of 30, 60, and 100 fold. And then He added, anyone who has ears to hear, let him listen. It is with the kingdom of God as when a man has sown seed on earth. He sleeps at night and rises by day, and the seed sprouts and shoots up. He knows not how. But the earth bares crops by itself-- the blade first, the acorn next, and then the grain full in the air. But whenever the crop is ready, he has the sickle put in at once, as harvest has come. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and resowed weeds among the wheat, and then ran away. When the blades sprouted and formed the kernel, then the weeds appeared as well. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu So the servants of the owner went to him and said, did you not sow good seed in your field, sir. How then does it contain weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. The servant said to him, then would you like us to go and gather them. Pitts Theology Library Emory University No, for you might root up the wheat when you were gathering the weeds. Let them both grow side by side till the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers to gather the weeds first, and tie them in bundles to be burned, but to collect the wheat in my barn. A man who had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came in search of fruit on it, but he found none. So he said to the vine dresser, here I have come for three years in search of fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why should it take up space? But the man replied, leave it for this year, sir, till I dig round about it and put in manure. Then it may bear fruit next year. If not, you can cut it down. I want to think with you for a few mornings, very directly and simply, about the insights of the parables, certain of the parables, at any rate. The parables, the whole idea of parables, of telling a tale to illustrate a moral, I suppose it is as old as human speech. Certainly, it was not created by Jesus. It was a part of His heritage, and He used it very effectively and very simply. The parables have always excited the imagination of men because they've tried to see all sorts of things in them. And it's a wonderful thing to do with your mind, to read one of these and then start playing with it to see what this means and that means and the other means. And of course, you know quite directly that Jesus didn't have that in mind. But you may say, well, I don't know what he had in mind exactly. It's pretty obvious in one to two places. But, anyway, it's a good clothesline on which I can hang my particular garments, and that's all right because it acts as a can opener for the mind. Well, that's not a good figure. Well, you understand what I mean. It stimulates the mind. The parables about which we are thinking this morning, the problems of growth have to do with the kingdom of God. And it is very interesting that when Jesus thought about the kingdom of God, it seems as if He stripped it of its political significance. I don't know whether He actually did it or whether the minds who have preserved for us the records have given it that angle. For the kingdom of God in Israel meant that which was fundamentally political, as well as righteous as moral. When Israel dreamed of the coming of the kingdom of God, it was a time when the powers that were in control of the political and economic and social life that had created so many circling series of embarrassments and torture and misery for Israel would be destroyed and the political, social, economic, religious power of Israel would be restored. For Israel regarded itself as not only a religion, but a culture and a civilization as well. But when Jesus thinks about the kingdom, certainly in the records that we have, it is something which seems to be devoid of the political ramification. He steadfastly sought to keep Himself separate from political involvements. And all of that was due to the critical environment in which 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu He functioned, and He did not want to precipitate something that would cut off the fulfillment of His ideas. Pitts Theology Library Emory University I don't know, but when they wanted to make Him a king, He refused. When they said, this tribute, is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, he said, pay Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and to God that which belongs to God. This is very puzzling. But the kingdom of God in his thought, at any rate, has to do with a quality of life under the rule and the domination of God. Now what is that kingdom like? Is the kingdom coming? Sometimes He seems to say, well, the kingdom is at hand, and sometimes He seems to say that the kingdom is already here. Sometimes he suggested the kingdom will come in with great morals, with great stirring. And then other times, the kingdom will come silently. The kingdom is in the world, and the kingdom is in the heart. No man knows when it will come, and every man stands in candidate for its coming. For whatever a man is who has a rule of God in his heart, there the kingdom of God is at hand. It's very interesting the way His mind and spirit seemed to grapple with the paradoxes inherent in the concept itself. So these three parables, for what I've read do you, have to do with His treatment of the kingdom, His idea about how the kingdom will come. One of them is He says that the kingdom of God is like unto a man who planted his field. And then he went to bed, he slept, and he got up the next day and worked. And the next day he went to bed and slept. And then after many days, the harvest was ready. But the kingdom of God comes independent of human effort aside from the initial act. It's very interesting. Let's think about that. The goals of the seeds that the farmer planted is independent of the farmer's thought, hopes, actions, except having good seed and planting it properly. They're born in the fundamental proposition that's involved in the seed-date relationship. Once that has been obeyed, then there isn't any more that can be done, that the mystery that surrounds the swimming of the kernel and the bush stay open, and the releasing of the elemental vitality that is transformed in terms of shoots and leaves and the rest of, all of that is an act of God. But there isn't anything I can do about it. Very interesting. That the process of growth and development and unfolding is an inscrutable process. What does that mean? As touching the kingdom of God, the other thing that I'm responsible for doing, He seems to suggest, is to be sure that, to the limit of my power, I do the elemental cooperation. I see that I do not block the process, that I lay bare my mind and will and heart to what seems to me to be the truth of God, and that I follow the light that I have. I know. What do you think of that? What do you think of that? It's very interesting to me how this idea has dogged the footsteps of man. There is always a sense in which it seems as if the human spirit can do nothing. When you really think about it, how 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu much can you do? How much can you do about anything? This is not a very healthy idea, but how much can you do? How much can you do? Pitts Theology Library Emory University How much power do you have? Can you make your hair grow, despite what is going on in the funny paper, the comic strip about this man who is working on that idea? Can you make yourself short or tall? Can you by willing it do this or that? Or is this the kind of universe that is somehow you can garner up enough of pure desire and great singleness of mind, if you can hold that desire and singleness of mind at dead center until it lasts the most stubborn and unyielding aspects of your life or the life of the world will take the objective shape of your inward desire? Is that the kind of world this is? Or even when that happens, are you ever sure that you do any of it? This is an interesting gospel. I see I'm taking all the time on this one, but I don't mean to. It is a very interesting gospel because, you see, in times of great futility in human life, in times when all of the social processes are bankrupt, then this idea becomes a very important haven of refuge. And I confess to you that as I've been reflecting upon this all the week, and then thinking about what's happening in San Francisco this week and what happened yesterday, this is a funny treaty that we've signed that puts all the resources of America to back a lily-white Australia and New Zealand. As I began to think about all of this, I said, well, now, why should I worry about that. That this is God's world, and God will do it. But I don't know. Maybe I have to do something. You see, it's a comforting thing to take refuge in. When German civilization collapsed after the First World War, it was very easy for certain German theologians to develop the concept that the kingdom of God is a mystery that God only understands, and that God will superimpose upon the traffic of life. But there isn't anything that anybody can do about it, so I can only wait and trust and hope that he will make up his mind to move in time to spare my life. But if he doesn't, then I can only say He had other plans. The kingdom of God is like a seed that's planted by a farmer. And he plants it and knows that he is responsible for doing all that his power permits, bringing to bear upon the selection of his seed as much wisdom and intelligence and farmer sense as he is able to garner, to understand the nature of the seed as fully as possible, and what kind of soil the seed needs, and prepare that soil. And after he has exhausted all of his resources in that particular to cooperate with the relentless logic of the process of growth, then relax and have no bad dreams. You've done all you can do. But the curious thing is you're never sure. Never sure. The second aspect in one of the other parables is a man planted his field. He did everything that he should do. And then he found that mixed up with this good wheat there were tares, there were things that were not wheat. And the tares in this period, what is described here is tares it seems by authorities to be something that looked like wheat, but isn't wheat, but wasn't wheat. And if you ate it, it killed you. While if you ate wheat, you didn't die as soon. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now when the attendant saw these curious things growing up in the midst of the wheat, he said, but didn't you plant all wheat It's very interesting that Jesus introduces that little phrase in there. He gave the planter of the wheat the benefit of the doubt. Didn't you? Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now think back-- before you blame the universe, before you blame somebody, think back, did you do it. Well, to put it that way, yes, I did. I remember now. It's all back in my mind. I did this and this. Yes, all the wheat was good. Well, how do you account for this and admitted it? [INAUDIBLE] I didn't. Now can I pull it all up, then, pull all these tares out? No, you can't do it that way. And this is very interesting. I'm always intrigued by the insight that Jesus shows here. You can't do it that way because this is the kind of universe in which the wheat and the tares grow like that. And if you start pulling out every tare, you'll destroy the wheat. And I'm always tempted to apply that to society, you see. As one more escape hatch for me so that I won't be required to do anything, you see. And you may take delight in feeling selfrighteous with reference to that same idea. Now it is very hard for me to apply to myself how the wheat and the tares are mixed up inside of me. What a mixture of good and evil am I. Over and over again here is a great, deeply moving, profoundly significant ethical insight that seems to be distilled out of purity of heart and great zealousness with reference to the purposes of God. And by the it gets where it's going, it's so mixed up and confused, that when it finally lands it does what at the time I didn't know that I had in mind. But when I see it, I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe that was a part of my intent. It's a terrifying thing. Wheat and tares. And then I want to get the tares pulled out when I get a fresh insight, And in my quietness and in my meditation, I lay bare all of my substance before God. And in the discerning of His eye, I see reflected the meaning of this and this so that under His scrutiny I recognize that this is tare and this is wheat. And I'm so emotionally stirred by what I see, so convicted of my error and my sin that I want to tear up the whole business, clean it out. And then I discover that the quality of my very being is involved in wheat and tares. Now there is a profound presupposition that Jesus makes in this parable which I feel I must pull your attention. That even though growth is a process, it is invisible, it is involved in the vitalism of life, yet it's bound by certain laws. There's a time of reaping. And when the reaping time comes, then you know the difference between the wheat and the tares. This note of judgment that seems always creeping through all the thinking of Jesus, that ultimately the mind and the spirit cannot find peace and rest in a final dualism. If the wheat and the tares forever and ever are that way, then you have a world in which there is always a persistent struggle between good and evil. And that struggle is an infinite ultimate struggle with no solution. Therefore, if that is the position you see, that's the part, that's this end of the wheat and the tares, you see, that there they are, there they are, that's the way life is. 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now if the contradictions of life are ultimate contradictions, the contradictions of life are final contradictions, then there can be no hope of resolution. Do you see? Do you understand that? Pitts Theology Library Emory University If the wheat and the tares are permanently characteristic of existence, then there can be no escape from the wheat and tare involvement. No final resolution. For it says, you see, that inherently and fundamentally the quality of goodness and the quality of that which is not goodness are equally matched. That the bias that the human spirit seems to have on the side of the positive is over against the negative is an illusion. Well, that's what it seems to suggest if you see there is no resolution. But there creeps always into the thought of Jesus a very interesting thing, and you see it here in this parable. There shall be a harvest time, a harvest time. And when the harvest time comes, what happens? Then the true character of the wheat is revealed and the true character of the tare is revealed. And the thing that he is suggesting is, that this is the kind of universe that ultimately does not sustain tares. Do you believe that? Now, your choices, your options are very few. Very few. For you see what your conviction is, not what you talk about, not what you really profess with your lips, but the thing that informs the quality of your living is instead, if I may put it that way, with one or the other these two positions. You're either are deeply convinced, you see, that this is the kind of universe in which the contradictions of life are final contradictions. And you'll know then if that is your position, you see. And you don't have to take it intellectually. I'm not talking about the metaphysics of it or the philosophy of it. That's way up there. But I'm talking about the way you live, how you deal with your fellows, how you deal with yourself, how you move in to the warp and woof of your daily experiencing. It is the shadow that your life casts, the accent, the odor of your life, the aroma, the whole quality, the overtones. That's what I'm getting at. That is instinct with one or the other of these positions. For you see, if you are convinced that ultimately these contradictions are final contradictions, you know that you can't do anything finally about anything. That your life is a battleground between these two elemental, eternally, equally matched forces, one generating that which seems to be negative and destructive, that which seems to be positive and destructive, and the other generating that which seems to be positive and creative. And your little spirit is just a battleground for these. And so you decide that I know that my deeds can't affect anything beyond the mundane life. So for the days that I have, for reasons that are peculiar to me or for reasons that have to do with my own sense of decency, my own selfrespect, my own positive answer to the negations of existence, that will only be the reasons. I may say that for my own little life I will let the weight of my days count on the positive side of the contradiction rather than the negative side. I know ultimately it makes no difference, but I'll count on that side. 6 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And I do it, and doing it, all the help that I can expect is a limited help because goodness has the same hard job in the universe that it has in me. So maybe I can help it, I will by not putting my weight on the wrong side. But Jesus did not seem to suggest that that is a sound position. Pitts Theology Library Emory University For you see, He insists that this is God's world, that this is God's order, God's universe. And that ultimately the contradictions of life are not final. There shall come a time. How soon? I do not know. When the bias of my spirit that is on the side of that which is positive and creative will find a response that confirms and sustains. He calls that the harvest. Some other places He calls it the great judgment. He has all these phrases, but it means that He is insisting that the mind cannot find peace, either in a contradiction or a paradox. So I don't know how it will be resolved. But I do know, says Jesus, that harvest is inevitable. And when harvest comes, that which is a wheat will still be wheat, and that which is a tare will be tare, and stripped to the literal substance of each self. The tare is poisonous and deadly and destructive, and the wheat is sustaining. And I shall live my life on the assumption that that which is native to the structure of life and the universe is that which is inherently significant in the wheat. And because I believe that, I shall abide. What do you think? How do you live it? And it is no answer at all to say you hadn't thought about it, because every day of your life you cast your vote. You cast your vote on which side? Which? 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-547_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 1: Growth and the Kingdom of God and part 2: Salvation: What is God Like (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Sep 2, 16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-547_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 1: Growth and the Kingdom of God, 1951 September 2 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-09-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource Howard Thurman uses the parables of the sower (Matt. 13:1-23) and the fig tree in the vineyard (Luke 13:6-9) to explore the growth of the kingdom of God. He claims these parables illustrate that “the kingdom of God comes independent of human effort aside from the initial act.” This initial act is the choosing and planting of the seed and after that, “there isn’t any more than can be done.” Then, once the time to reap the crop has come, we must be able to discern between the wheat and the tares. Thurman likens tares to the presence of evil and though it is difficult to know how to remove the tares now, the harvest is inevitable as Jesus promises. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Erik Mattson growth Kingdom of God Parables https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/803e3deb4c696d4b87575f73f400ea4f.pdf 95ec270ec2ee647a278083b3dcf4c940 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-547_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University And torment the mind. But we are also bound together by the overtones of joy. By all of the subtle reassurances of the daily round, by which our spirits are lifted and our confidence in life restored and re-established. The quietness, the stillness that permits the sediment to gather. And the clarity of our movement to be defined. How dependent we are upon the hush. The great silent movement of the spirit. Oh God, our Father. Thou who are not far from any one of us. How rich is the assurance that God does give to us? And how desperate is our need for that assurance? May thy spirit that is in us, and that sometimes in these quiet stretches seems so terribly near, may it brood over and within all the peoples of the Earth this day. Those that are now being broken by war. Those that have been broken by war. Those that are now being broken by strength. Those that have been broken by victory. How dependent are we, oh God, upon thee? And how glad we are that it is so? Amen. For those of you who are seated where the sun casts its rays, you have my sympathy. [LAUGHTER] But we have not had sunshine for a long time. And I hope you-[CLATTER] [INAUDIBLE] have been less definitive. is the point at which Christianity deals with the crucial question of all religions, and that is the question of salvation. Everybody is interested in salvation. Whether you are a theologian or not, everybody wants to be saved. Because everybody, in some sense, is lost. When Jesus talked about salvation, he told the three stories, three parables. And you are very familiar with them. But I guess that I've talked to you about them. Recapping them, as it were. And that you don't let your mind play hooky. Say you know what I'm going to say about that. Because you don't. These parables really have as much to do with salvation as they have to do with the other most persistent question of the human mind and the human spirit. And that is, what is God like? What is what is God like? The earliest question that I remember raising as a little boy was, who made God? Where did God come from? It worried me all the time because I couldn't ever get any answer that was satisfying. And of course, I don't have one now. Because it is the question the answer to which one lives 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu into. And the more deeply one lives into the answer, the more irrelevant becomes the question. Interesting but true, I think. Pitts Theology Library Emory University The first story had to do with a lady who'd lost some money. A very familiar story. She lost a coin. And she looked everywhere for the coin. But of course, the place where it was. Until finally, she looked at that place, and she actually found it. She had to light a candle, doubtless, because the house was dark. Only one point at which light came into those houses, and that was through the door. And the shaft of light coming through the door could not get into the more involved parts of the house. So she looked everywhere. And when she found the coin, she did a very interesting thing. She told her neighbors, called the neighbors in. Because, no doubt she had told them that she had lost it. You can be sure of that. Because it's easier to tell about the negative thing than about the positive thing. That is also very interesting, but I won't go down that way. So she said, come and rejoice with me because I've found that which was lost, my coin. And now I am very happy. Very simple story. A piece of money lost. What is God like? Says Jesus. Asks Jesus. He's like he's like the lady who found a coin that had been lost. And the coin had been restored to its place of usefulness. Very simple. Now let's look at it for just a minute or two before we go to the other. A coin lost through no act of its own. It couldn't think, it couldn't feel. It had no freedom of movement or motion except as it was propelled, for it was a thing. But nevertheless, it was law. And in that sense, it was completely victimized by environmental factors and forces over which it had no control. Lost from one's meaning. Because one is a victim of circumstances, over which one has no control. But the result of which cannot escape one's responsibility. It's a curious thing, isn't it? Curious. [? An ?] [? accident ?] [? at ?] [? birth. ?] The whole structure of fulfillment along the lines that were potentially inherent in this throbbing body that was born. Bad teaching. That focused the thought and the attention and the dynamics of the personality along channels of increasing error. Lost. The victim circumstances. Now, the list is long. And your list is as good as mine. And you can draw on your own experience in which you are both involved. Now the interesting thing to point out in connection with the meaning of salvation in this parable is that being found meant the restoration of meaning within the limitations of the coin itself. To me, one of the most sobering aspects of modern life is the way in which-- and perhaps I am prejudiced because of my own calling and vocation-- but the way in which modern society-- I will say this with measured meaning-- the way in which modern society, inspired, I think, by the spirit of God, is at work in finding the lost who are lost because of the operation of impersonal factors and forces over which they have no control. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And I think that the Ministry of healing through all of the uses to which forces of nature are put in response to the creative [? wooing ?] and [? urgencies ?] of the mind of man and the desperation of his spirit. All of these are part of the redemptive process by which the God of the lost is seeking his own. Pitts Theology Library Emory University All of the things that we do to help in the rehabilitation of children. All things that we are working on in helping to restructure and helping to release creative forces that can restructure disturbances of the mind and the emotions. All of these are part of the redeeming process of God. And I think that the work is holy. And those who, with their training and their minds, are vehicles for that kind of redemption should be men and women of great reverence and great spiritual design and awareness. And the illusion that these processes are secular processes, the illusion that these processes are so objective, so scientific, that they are not involved in the deeply moving spiritual thing that is the- with which life is instinct, is perhaps the most catching dilemma of modern man, delusion of modern man. What can happen when one with discipline, and long brooding with the mind, and exposure to the need, can have that process illumined by a recognition that God is at work in him? Every hospital. Every clinic. Every consultation. Consulting room. Becomes an altar where the love of God burns for the redemption of his children. And then the second-- and I'll just touch it, perhaps. There was a sheep. Or it may have been a lamb. I don't remember. But let us say a sheep because it fits better. A sheep was enjoying his grass and the other things a sheep enjoys. He run along. And then when he started feeling chilly, he didn't recall. But the only thing he remembers is that suddenly he became aware that he was cold. And that there was a throwback in his mind, he realized he'd been cold for some time. But the grass was good. Then he looked around, and he discovered that he was alone. That everybody had gone. That is that all the sheep had gone. And he began crying aloud. And then the shepherd, who had many sheep, missed him when he got back to the fold. And he left his 99 or whatever the number was, and he went out to try to find this sheep that was lost. And Jesus says God is like that. Nothing heavy and theological about that. Very little that is dogmatic, technically, above it. Just that here, here is a shepherd who loves his sheep. And one of the sheep, in doing the most natural thing in the world, and that is to eat the grass, did it with such enthusiasm, and over a time interval of such duration, that he didn't know when the shepherd called that he was lost. And why was he lost? He was lost because he was out of touch. Out of touch. That's why he was lost. Out of touch with the group that sustained him. The good that fed him. That gave him a sense that he counted! That's all. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And as soon as he was out there alone, he said I'm just here by myself. Nothing but me in all of this? And I want to feel that I count with the others. There's a certain warmth in there. There's a certain something that is creative and redemptive about the sense of community, about the fellowship. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now I call your attention to two things about that. The first is that this lost sheep wasn't a bad sheep. And what he did was not a bad thing. It became a deadly thing, however, when on its behalf, or in quest of it, he unwittingly paid the price of being cut off from the rest. Now, there are many of us that are lost that way. Did you ever hear anyone say I can stand on my own two feet? You've heard that. You've heard people say that, well, I-- it is nice if I have the good feeling of other people, and the sense of belonging. But I don't need anybody. I don't need anybody. Only the weak need other people! If you are a man, if you're a woman, you can stand on your own feet and be autonomous! Independent. Why do you need to be dependent upon anybody? Then you place your at the disposal of their whims! A lot of sense in that. But it is true, isn't it, my friends, that nobody, nobody wants to be isolated. You can't stand being isolated. And that is why, you see, the whole dimension of the meaning of the parable shifts, for the thing that is due with our attention is called, and the address of the parable is a physical proximity here. But as we think about it, isolation. Isolation is something that is spiritual. It is something that is inside of me. And I don't know whether I can make it clear I think I see it. It's something inside of me that pulls up the moat. Or is that-- the drawbridge, I mean. [INAUDIBLE] That pulls up the drawbridge so that when I am on my little island-- and sometimes I do it because I am afraid. Sometimes I do it because I'm clumsy and awkward, and I don't quite know how to establish a relationship or relationships with my fellows. That can float my spirit to them and bring their spirit to me. When a nation discovers that it is finally isolated, I don't care how weak the nation is. How poor the nation is. When a nation realizes that it is completely isolated, it goes to war. That is the history of our whole civilization, our whole country, isn't it? We can't stand being cut off. Now, what is salvation? Salvation is re-establishing one's sense of belonging. You see, every person is specifically related to-- Now, Jesus says that God-- that God is like the shepherd. Seeking always to find those who are out of the community with their fellows. And when they have found it, when they have found their community with their fellows, then all the world seems to fit back into place, and life takes on a new meaning. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Have you ever had the experience of being cut off from some fellowship, some community? And then all during the time that you were cut off, nothing seems to be right. The sun isn't as bright as it should be. Life isn't quite right. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And then, and then, you're restored. And when you're restored, a lot of things seem to fall into place. Now that can be not only in terms of human relations, but it can be in terms of other dimensions of community, of feeling and thought that restore meaning and value to your very life. As illustrated, for instance, in the very great speech that appears in Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan when they say to her, we'll burn you at the stake. And she takes the documents and terrors it up. And then she says, I won't recant. For if I recant, then lock me in a dungeon where I can't see the sunlight. Where I cannot breathe. Where I cannot be a part of the movement of life that sustains me. It is better to die at the stake than to be cut off from the things that give me a sense of community as a dignified, meaningful human being. And that is why the inner attitude is so important. For if I am unyielding, if I am embittered, if I am unforgiving, if I have bitterness that I cannot relax, then those things stand between me and the things that feed my spirit. And I can't seek release from God until I am willing to seek release from you. The lost sheep. The searching shepherd. And the cry of anguish of the sheep was the voice of identification that the shepherd heard. That is how God is if we let him. 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-547_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 6/30 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 1: Growth and the Kingdom of God and part 2: Salvation: What is God Like (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Sep 2, 16, Side B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-547_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 2: Salvation: What is God Like, 1951 September 16 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-09-16 Description An account of the resource In this second sermon on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman uses the Parable of the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Lost Sheep to speak about salvation and the nature of God. Thurman says that both parables describe the redeeming process of God. As human beings we fall into being lost and isolated, often due to forces beyond our control. However, God works towards our salvation, restoring the isolated to a sense of belonging and relationship. For Thurman, community restores meaning and value to life. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/77b29fc22a513f00e00e1579044c58a7.pdf c359e852bc9d5d53a6ff603313d2d017 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-548_A.mp3 My heart an altar, Thy love the flame. The patience of unanswered prayer, the dimness of the soul removed. Pitts Theology Library Emory University It is good, once again, to gather in the quietness and to center down in stillness. The streets of our minds are so filled with traffic. Our spirits are so crowded with conflicting noises that it is wonderful to be quiet, and to see if, in the quietness, we cannot sense some order in our lives, some specific sense of direction. Something that will tend to structure our confusion so that we may understand its character. In the quietness, we may look at ourselves, the kinds of people we are. What are the kinds of things that we are doing, and why are we doing them? What is the whole point of our functioning? Where are we trying to go? What is it that we are meaning by what we do? And what is the point of our kind of living? Where do we put the emphasis in our lives? Or each may make it very personal, where do I put the emphasis in my life? What am I after? Where are my values placed? To what end am I making my peculiar kind of sacrifice? What is it that I love most in life? What is it that I despise most in life? To what am I true, and why am I true to it? Who am I, anyway? Who am I, and what am I doing? And as we listen, is all we get the jangling echo of our own confusion and chaos? Or is there something more, some deeper note that we have not heard before, because we have not been still enough to listen? To listen until the sounds are defined. To listen until we are quiet enough to hear the whisper in the heart. And what does it say to us? What does it say? Spirit of God, descend upon our hearts. Wean it from Earth. Through all its pulses move. Amen. Before I begin the next sermon this morning, I'd like to make a statement, and it did really doesn't apply to those who are involved this morning. Because I'm sure that [AUDIO OUT] actually called your attention last Sunday. And eventually, what appears as a sermon topic, and what the preacher talks about will get together. This last Sunday, you will recall, we thought together about the teaching, the parables which have to do with the lost coin, and the lost sheep. Parables which indicated somewhat the mind of Jesus, in an effort to answer, to His own satisfaction and to the satisfaction of His heroes, the question as to what is God like. And also, an effort on His part to deal with the meaning of the relationship of the human spirit to God, which is, after all, the fundamental point of all religion. For the religious endeavor of the human spirit is to underwrite the significance of salvation, however it may be defined. That is its point. And the story with which we have to do this morning is a familiar one. Simply told, it's the story of a boy who was younger, and a boy was older, and a father. A family, but a family in which the mother does not appear. It's very interesting. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu The boy who was young said to his father, "Give me what is coming to me now, so that I can go away. I want to try my wings." And his father gave him what was coming to him, and he went away. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And Jesus puts a very interesting touch. He went into a far country. And there he met many friends, friends who liked his personality, liked his way with money. And they enjoyed him thoroughly as to his surplus. And then he gave out of money. That is perfectly natural in time. And he looked for his friends, friends who had enjoyed his money, and he thought they were enjoying him. And he looked for them, and he found them not. But he had to eat. And it's interesting that when his hunger became sufficiently great, he was willing to pay almost any price as to his pride, as to his self-respect, in order that he might get food. So he went to hire himself out to a man as the keeper of his hogs, which is a consummate touch of genius on the part of Jesus, that this man who was a Jewish man, as to his faith as Jesus was. And he was so, so far beyond the reach of the climate that sustained him that he, in his desperation, became a herder of hogs and a feeder of hogs. And not only that, but he ate some of the food that he was feeding the hogs. And while he was in that state, it occurred to him that he was his father's son. He'd forgotten that. He was his father's son. And so he said, "I will go to my father. And I will not let my pride stand in the way. I'll just tell him what I have been doing, the kind of person I am, and tell him I don't want to be his son anymore, but I want to be as one of the hired servants. Because it is better to be a hired servant of my father than to be in the far country, stranded and alone, or surrounded by sunshine friends." But his father saw him coming, and ran out to meet him, so that the boy didn't have a chance to say, "Father," so and so, and so and so and so. "Make me as one of the hired servants." The only thing that the boy had a chance to say was, "I'm so sorry. And I realize now that I didn't do this against anyone, but against you, and against myself, really." His father fell on his neck and kissed him, was so glad to see him, that in that swirling moment of heightened ecstasy, he said to his servants, "Get the special garment, kill the fatted calf. Wash him and bring him in here, so that he can know that he is at the center of my heart where he's been all the time." And then, the older boy came home, and he heard all of this. And he said, "I wonder what's going on." And he listened, and he said, "Oh, yeah. He's back. I knew he was coming back." He didn't say, "Gee, how wonderful it is that he's back, and now a smile will be on my father's face again." No. "All the time he was away, having a good time, I was right here working. It seems as if the way to win your spurs with my father is to go off and throw things away. And then you get the central place. But if you stay and work, then you'll get no credit for it." And his rumbling was so significant, that he spoke to his father, and he said, "I've been here all the time, you've never had a party for me. You never said, kill the fatted calf." 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu And the father said, "Everything that I have is yours, my boy. But can't you understand? Can't you feel your way in to some sensitiveness as to what is taking place in me and in your brother? He was lost, and now he's found. Can you understand what that is? Now I can die in peace, because I have seen my child again." Pitts Theology Library Emory University And that's the story, a simple story. And I don't want to take the time and make it all complex and complicated. But I have three things I want to say about it. And the first is merely to state what it seems to me the teaching says, in the context and in the spirit of Jesus. The teaching says that God is like that father. And that anybody may be like the prodigal son. And anybody may be like the older brother. We all stand in that relationship, the family relationship with God. And you're lost if you are out of primary fellowship with God, whatever else you may have. And you may be out of primary fellowship with God, without ever going away from home. For the older boy didn't ever go away from home. He was out of fellowship, nevertheless. Be careful, then, how you live, for you're lost if you are out of fellowship with God. And that's what he's saying. And any time you start moving in that direction, the first thing that you discover is, that all the time, God has been moving towards you. Now that's the story. That's all there is to it. But that's a great deal. Now, we will move to part two. Now, the first thing in part two is this. One of the things that stirred in my mind, that always stirs in my mind as I read it, because it is profoundly puzzling to me, and it's a part of experience. But I don't quite know altogether what it what it means. But the fact that in the story that Jesus tells, that there seems to be a relationship between what is going on in the external environment, or in the environment in which we are living, and what is going on inside of us. Now this is the thing that suggested to my mind, that the famine that the boy experienced in the far country was a part also of the famine that he was experiencing inside himself. I'm constantly puzzled and disturbed by the way in which we seem to surround ourselves with the kind of environment, or aura, or climate, that seems to be a reflection of the kind of thing that is going on inside of us. Now without seeming to be superstitious, but I cannot doubt the reflection that-- it is not an accident that we pick up the newspapers day after day, and perfectly good, well-disciplined, and well-organized aeroplanes just drop, crash, just a rash of them for the last two or three years. What does that mean? I don't know what it means. But let's play with this a little, with our minds and spirits, because there's something here. I was reading a report the other day by some doctor of the mind, in which he pointed out the interesting relationship between the number of people who suffer from automobile accidents, from all sorts of accidents, having to do with coordination and so forth, so on, the striking corollary between them and they're in a mental and spiritual confusion. And he does a disturbing thing. He lists, from his files, his records, the number of patients who had come to him, and who had been treated by him, and the number of those patients who, in their history, have brought with them accountings of accidents, of things that point up a kind of out-of-balance with the environment. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now, don't push that too far. Don't let your minds go back now to an accident that a friend of yours had the other day, and so you knew that something was wrong that person all along, and now is the moment when it gets vindicated. Pitts Theology Library Emory University But no, it makes a certain kind of sense that the climate that surrounds us is not unrelated to the kind of climate that is inside of us. Now we see it in simple ways. Have you ever gotten up in the morning, feeling depressed because you did not sleep well, or because of any one of a half a dozen things? And you go about your regular daily tasks, whatever they may be. And you discover that there's some kind of contagion between this thing inside of you, this down feeling inside of you, and the way various individuals in your environment respond to you. The way the world looks to you. Or have you not, at some times had a great updraft of wonderful inner resurgence, and creative spirit and feeling, and then suddenly it burst upon you that this is a beautiful world. Doesn't it happen to you? That there's something there. Therefore, it seems to be relevant to say that the most important clue to my outside world is my inside world. On one of the facades of the railway station in Washington, DC, there is a statement, "He who seeks the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." That's the insight that's at work there. That's what Jesus is talking about. Ah, that wonderful, medieval mystic of Hinduism who says that, "I laugh when you say that a fish in the water is thirsty. Do you seek the real? Go where you will, from Benares to Mathura, if you have not found your own soul. The world is unreal to you." Now that isn't the whole story, but that is so crucially a part of the whole story that it is worth calling your attention to, that the clue to the outer is the inner. The famine that the boy experienced in the far country, he was already experiencing in his own heart. It's very simple. Now, the other thing I wanted to say is, and this follows that, he came to himself, and when he came to himself, he came to his father. But when he came to himself, he came to his father. What that says is that when I come to the very center, the very core of myself, then I come face to face with God. That God is within me, that He is the very point of my being and my existence. Now I know that sounds commonplace, and that sounds as if it is the same thing that is being said over and over again. And perhaps it is. But when Jesus insists that the door to the son to the father of the prodigal son could not open until the boy opened it, down inside of him, that there is that of man which is God. Not a reflection of God, not some staggering accent of God, but that which is God. So when I raise the question as to what am I, I know that I am this, or that, or the other. But when I am most myself, I know that there is something in me that, for lack of a better term, I will call that which is otherworldly. Otherworldly. Think about yourself for a moment. You know that you have appetites. You have a body. You have a mind. That it is so important to be as adequately expressive of myself as possible. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu I think that is why it is so important for young people, for instance, who are growing into life, to get a tune, to take the time to find a tool, and to fashion a tool that will be vehicular for them, that will be the means by which they can provide an escalator from the churning spirit that is within them to the external world. Even though, when they do the best they can, it is inadequate, it is limited. Pitts Theology Library Emory University And because, in the very nature of the case, it is limited and places a heavier responsibility upon making the tool the most exacting thing that the spirit can devise, or the mind can create. So that when I have done my best, I know it will be less than what I wanted to express. But it will be a full and adequate manifestation of the equipment that I had. That's why it is so important when you're young to do the thing, to do the learning, the disciplining, to review the possibilities, and select some expression of your life that will structure it. For even after you have lived to the full, doing to the limit of your power all that your wisdom, and experience, and judgment, and technique, and competency can inspire, at the end of your day, even though you may be covered with the glory of men, deep in your heart, you will know that you didn't do it. Therefore, if coupled with the feeling that when I've done my best, I have failed to reveal that which is stirring most deeply within me, how terrible it is. If, in addition to that, I feel that I have wasted my time, I have failed to select a tune that will express this thing that cannot be expressed, but I cannot ever be excused from the awful responsibility of trying to express it. And it is never too late to find the tune. I can always say, well, I am too old to find the tune. I'm too limited. I am too this, too that. That is no excuse. And I will be through in a minute. I think I've told you about one of the most moving stories that Rufus Jones told me when I worked with him, about a South China, Maine farmer, a very illiterate farmer, who had a concern. And that concern was to establish a Quaker hostel somewhere in Palestine. And when he went to first day meeting and told people about it, they listened in the quietness, and each one had his private smile. And then there was no assent from them, no consent of the meeting, or whatever the technical phrase is. Then he went to the quarterly meeting, and told the same thing, and then there, he met the same quiet rejection. Because a whisper in their hearts had included the fact that this man is sincere, but he is illiterate. So he went to the annual meeting, and the same thing happened. Then he went to the five year meeting, and the same thing happened. At the end of that time, he sold his farm, and went to Palestine, and established the hostel. That's what I'm talking about. For the mood deep within you, you come to yourself. You find waiting there your Father, Who can take your limitations, all of the broken manifestations of your days' or years' journey, and brood over them with His infinite wisdom, tenderness, and knowledge of the whole Ruler of existence, and place at your disposal that which will make you His son. That is yours. That's mine. And I'm grateful to God that it is so. Grateful. Grateful to God that I am his son and He is my Father. 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-548_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 3: Prodigal Son and part 4: Forgiveness (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Sep 23, 30 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-548_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 3: Prodigal Son, 1951 September 23 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-09-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource In Part 3 on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman explores the Parable of the Prodigal Son. For Thurman, God is like the story's father, and the brothers represent the ways in which we can fall out of relationship with God. In his interpretation of the younger brother, Thurman comes to two insights. Firstly, there is a relationship between the internal and external: the outside famine that the son suffered through was also an internal famine. Secondly, the son's story shows that the door to God must be opened deep within ourselves. For Thurman, when we come to ourselves, we come to God. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/a3b30ffa2e6daeacea3807806e59e900.pdf 73a108f29c6e03470ca05afe54f9d6a5 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-548_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University There are some who seek sustenance and support for grand plans and great undertakings that have excited their minds and stimulated their adventure. Some who seek the power and the strength to forgive someone who has wronged them. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. [INAUDIBLE] "wood or storm for shelter-- yet they sing. He who works in the night fulfills their needs, and the dew of His grace is upon their petals. And once again I heard Him say, 'Remember this-- a thief is a man in need, a liar is a man in fear-- the hunter who is hunted by the watchman of your night is also hunted by the watchman of his own darkness. I would have you pity them all. Should they seek your house, see that you open your door and bid them sit at your board. If you do not accept them, you shall not be free from whatever they have committed.' And on a day I followed Him to the marketplace of Jerusalem as the others followed Him, and He told us the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the merchant who sold all his possessions that he might buy a pearl. But as He was speaking, the pharisees brought into the midst of the crowd a woman whom they called a harlot, and they confronted Jesus and said to Him, 'She was taken in the act.' And He gazed at her, and He placed His hand upon her forehead and looked deep into her eyes. And then He turned to the men who had brought her to Him and He looked long at them. And He leaned down, and with His finger, He began to write upon the earth. He wrote the name of every man, and besides the name, He wrote the sin that every man had committed. And as He wrote, they escaped in shame into the streets. And ere He had finished writing, only that woman and ourselves stood before Him. And again He looked into our eyes and He said, 'You have loved very much. They who brought you here loved but little. But they brought to you as a snare for my ensnaring. And now go into peace. None of them is here to judge you, and if it is in your desire to be wise even as you are loving, then seek me, for the Son of Man will not judge you.' And I wondered then whether He said this to her because He himself was not without sin. But since that day, I pondered long, and I know now that only the pure of heart forgive the thirst that leads to dead waters. And only the sure of foot can give a hand to him who stumbles. And again, and yet again, I say, the bitterness of death is less bitter than life without Him." The continuation of our thinking the other about the parables-- this morning, we are dealing with two of the very striking parables of Jesus. And they have to do with forgiveness of sin. Very simple stories, they are. One of them has a dramatic setting. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University A Pharisee-- and I hope you will bear in mind that most of the New Testament references to the Pharisees are references that reflect a judgment or attitude towards the Pharisee that is not really a part of the genius of the Pharisaic movement in Israel. It is a reflection of another kind of attitude-- another kind of prejudice. And this, of course, is nothing new-- nothing radical. It's an old, familiar thing to those persons who have made any study of either the Pharisees or the Sadducees of Israel, or the life of Jesus, for that matter. But this man was a Pharisee, nevertheless. And he invited Jesus, along with His other friends, to dinner. And in those days, you ate with an exposure to the street. That is, the room had an exposure to the street and strangers could drop in. And if they walked by and they saw you in there eating, and they remembered that they want to talk with you about something, that's a good time to talk with you. You are relaxed and you're in a good mood, and if the food is good, you are apt to give a positive and favorable reaction. So people came in and out, as the case may have been. And then, while everybody was eating and everything was lovely, this woman came in. And it was very interesting, because time stood still when she appeared. And why did time stand still? Because every man there, every person there, every guest, including Jesus Himself, knew-- knew what kind of woman she was. In ordinary language, she was a woman of the street-- prostitute. Now, here's the setting. Here is the Pharisee-- the guests-- on the one hand. The host, rather. Jesus, the guests, and the woman. And what do you think was going on in everybody's mind? It's an interesting question. And evidently, great was the relief when the woman came in and she went straight to Jesus. And doubtless, Simon drew a sigh of relief, but it faced him with another problem. And when the woman came to Jesus, she fell at his feet-- pulled the pin out of her hair, and it fell over on His feet, covering His feet. And according into this picture, she kissed His feet. The ultimate act of humility and selfabasement-- the radical and dramatic expression of a sense of unworthiness. And under the cover of her hair, her eyes became fountains of tears as she bathed His feet with the tears of her anguish. And then everybody began reacting. And they said, you have no right to be here. This is no place for you. You are outside of the pale-- outside of the protection and the guarantors of respectability. Some man writing about her said-- and he calls her by the name Mary. But I think that's a mistake. But nevertheless, this is what he says. "Once I was white as a snow, but I fell like a snowflake from heaven to hell. Fell to be trampled as filth in the street. Fell and to be laughed at, spit on, and beat. Cursing, pleading, dreading to die, selling my soul to whoever will buy. Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread. Hating the living and fearing the dead. Oh, merciful God, have I fallen so low? And once I was pure as the beautiful snow." 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Then Jesus took over. And what did He do? He told a story-- a story. He said there was a man who-- let me read the story to you. Pitts Theology Library Emory University "And Jesus answering said unto him, 'Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee.' And He sayeth, 'Master, say on.' 'There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing to pay, He frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love Him most?' And Simon said, 'Well, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.' And He said unto him, 'Though has rightly judged.' And He turned to the woman and He said unto her, 'Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house. Though gavest me no water for my feet. She hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.'" Now, that's a story. The measure of my sense of need for forgiveness is the measure of my outgoing to meet the need for forgiveness in others. Very simple. Very simple. Now there's one little question I'd like to raise before I go to the second one-- one little question. does it mean that-- why is it that the person who gives you the most trouble-- the person who gives you the most trouble seems to get closest to your heart? Do you believe that? Were you one of two or three children in the family? And you were very good, so you don't know what I'm talk about, but-[LAUGHTER] But the child that was always in difficulties-- and I've thought about it a great deal. Of course, if you're a parent, you spend more time talking. Parents spend more time talking together about the child that's giving them trouble. Isn't that right? They do more soul searching about that, because one of the things they're trying to do, it seems to me, is to be sure that they can rid themselves of a feeling of guilt about it. Because they-- even though they know that the child got these discrepancies out of the blue, that they didn't come from any kind of inheritance or any lack of parental guidance and example. But where did they come from? They must've come from somewhere. And then you look at each other. And you know that-- well, and then you talk about other aspects of it. But the result is that more of you has to be given as the whole part of you tracks down the limitations and the inadequacies of the loved one, and wraps its health around it, hoping that redemption will be possible. And you never give up. Now, if it happens that the person feels 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu consciously in need of forgiveness, then the [? immute ?] dimension of the possibilities of redemption takes place. Pitts Theology Library Emory University For you see, even where you're dealing with an individual who is stubborn and unyielding and recalcitrant, who has no sense of the need for forgiveness-- yet if you love, the love envelops and keeps trying to break down the inner resistance of the other person, until that person from within starts moving from there towards you to meet the great, creative love which you hold in your heart. But if there is a stuttering in the other person-- if the other person has a need-- a sense need for forgiveness-- and tries to work it out, tries to move towards the health that is being offered to him, then love becomes magnificent. And now, the person who should be most sensitive to the needs of others, most sensitive to the transgressions of others, is the person who is most deeply conscious of his own transgressions. There is no more tragic person in the world than a person who is incapable of having a sense of error. Have you ever seen anybody like that? You may be mistaken, but that person is never mistaken. Do you know how difficult it is to get to them? Have you ever tried? Thank God I'm pure. [LAUGHTER] Have you ever had to deal with someone like that? Not a chance. Now, the second parable draws right out of this one. And that parable is of a man who owed a vast sum of money. If you measured the scriptural reference in terms of dollars, it would be something like $2 million. And he said to the man to whom he owed the money, I'm very sorry, but I can't pay it. It's more than I can pay-- more than I can ever pay. And the man to whom he was indebted said, all right. If you can't do it, then let's forget it. Let's forget it. I'll wipe it all and let you start all over again with your life. I will not handicap you further with a burden that you can't carry. Oh, thank you so much. Now I can go on living. And when he walked around the corner, he ran into a man who owed him about $2 and a quarter. And he said, I've been looking all over for you. [LAUGHTER] And this man said, well, you know, I was trying to find you. And I'm very sorry, but I can't pay you. I don't have it. Well-- well, you know what he said. I must have mine. Oh, Jesus was wonderful, wasn't He? He just knew-- He could just put his finger right on the spotlight so it could turn its rays on when you weren't expecting any light at all. If it is something that I owe you, I want mercy. If you owe me, I want mine. How perfectly natural that is. And why is it true? Because it is so difficult for us to deal honestly with ourselves. When I watch you do something, I have to have an attitude of judgment towards you and towards the doing of it. But when I do that thing, then I deal with an entirely different matter. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu If I try to get everything I can for myself, I'm just being wise-- protecting myself against a rainy day. If you try to do it, then you are unscrupulous. You're an exploiter. You are x, you are y. It's curious, isn't it? Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now, Jesus said something very simple-- that I can only seek forgiveness from God for the sins which I've committed, for the [? error ?] if I am willing to forgive people for the things they do to me. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? That if I'm hard-hearted, if I'm unyielding, if I insist that the thing that happened to me was so terrible that I can't forgive you, then every time I fall upon my unrepentant knees, either actually or figuratively seeking the forgiveness of God in order that my own spirit may have a sense of freedom of movement, then the thing that stands between me and that forgiveness is your face. I can't get to God, because every time I start, you are in the way. There's only one way I can get you out of my path, and that is to forgive you out. And until I do that, I can't get to God. Jesus illustrated in another way. That in going to the temple to bring your gift, if when you get to the temple with your gift, you remember that your brother has aught against you-- not that you have aught against your brother. It's easy for you to remember that, because you can't forget that. But if you remember that your brother has aught against you-- that somebody is holding this thing against you, and you know it. And you say, well, it isn't my fault. Just let him do it. I'm not responsible for that. But Jesus says, if you remember that someone has aught against you, leave your gift. Don't try to fool God. Oh, no, no. Don't do that. That isn't healthy. Leave your gift. Go and find the person. Find the person who has this ill will against you, and then work out a reconciliation. And that is very instructive, because there is no experience in which you have been injured by another person in which you do not share some of the guilt. There is no such thing as a one-sided judgment in that particular. Examine carefully, under the light of your best judgment and your most enlightened wisdom, any situation of conflict that you are having right now with someone. Think about it for a moment, if you are having. And you are sure that all the guilt is on one side. If you examine it very carefully, you will discover that you share the responsibility-- that much, so much, that is not good has flown from you to other people. That more and more as you deepen your own sense of religious values and spiritual experience, more and more you will learn that you must be gracious towards other people for so much that is not good that flows from them to you. You are not without guilt. And therefore, no forgiveness can take place unless it is mutual. The person who has injured me-- yes, I can only forgive him when in my own heart and mind with great honesty I ask him to forgive me. And then when I do that, I can pray to God, asking God to forgive me, even as I forgive others. And if you are the kind of person who doesn't pray, and therefore what I'm saying about praying to God for forgiveness is a thing you don't do, and therefore, this does not involve you, you're 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu just mistaken. Because sooner or late, you will come to your knees seeking something that will so operate on your insides that you may be full again-- might have less heaviness of heart, that you may be able to look into the eyes of another person, or that person, and feel no ill will-- no judgment. Pitts Theology Library Emory University That whatever the process is by which that takes place in you, it adds up to this-- that you are trying in the process so to settle your account with life that life will begin to flow freely through you again. And in the language of religion, that is the forgiveness of God. And if I don't seek it, I can't get along, because no one of us is free from hurting other people. And every time you do, you throw out of line the relationship that guarantees your sense of wholeness. And you can't be yourself, as long as you hold in yourself the kind of thought and attitudes that keep other people from being themselves. I seek the forgiveness of God, not because I am worthy of it, but because it is the only practical way by which I can live without any increasing disintegration. [LOUD BUZZING] [INAUDIBLE] 6 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-548_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Internal Notes Notes for project team Edited - GL 6/30 Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 3: Prodigal Son and part 4: Forgiveness (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Sep 23, 30, Side B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-548_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 4: Forgiveness, 1951 September 30 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-09-30 Description An account of the resource In Part 4 of the Parables of Jesus sermon, Thurman interprets the Parables of the Two Debtors and the Unforgiving Servant. When we feel a deep need of forgiveness, we are more likely to be forgiving towards others. For Thurman, this is summed up in the thinking of Jesus: We can only seek forgiveness from God if we are willing to forgive people for what they have done to us. None of us can escape this need because none of us are without guilt. Thus, forgiving others and begging mercy for ourselves are bound together in one posture. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/787f48b331762857c5fb994eaa5ee007.pdf f0ebbf852e97f25125e1465de9ee00d2 PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-549_A.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University To make a pause, to come to a moment or a season of quiet. Because our lives are so crowded with things to do with a wide variety of considerations and problems and issues, the stark necessities that come from the struggle for bread, for shelter, for clothing-- the vast energies consumed in trying to get along in life and with life, the ways in which the private way of our inward parts are invaded by suffering, by illness, and a general climate of despair that surrounds our world, it is often very hard to come to a quiet place in one's own mind. There is fighting for control of our minds and hearts, all of the involvements of our daily activities and our daily struggles. We welcome this moment of quiet when the external surrounding seems to suggest that this moment for centering down, for settling in, for gathering into one point to focus what it is that we are after. What are the deep desires of our hearts? What do we think is the meaning of life-- the meaning of our own lives? How are we related to ourselves, to the things that we do every day, to those with whom we live? How are we related to our God? It is wonderful to pause, to be quiet, to feel one's way gingerly, and to the secret place [INAUDIBLE] heart. The be quiet, to make an end of activity, to rest, perchance, to be refreshed and renewed. Oh, God, our Father, who looks with such infinite understanding and long suffering upon the foibles of our lives, be very near us in the quietness of this place. Then for one swirling moment, we may see ourselves as Thou dost see us, stripped to the literal substance of ourselves, without pretense, without all of the boasting, without all of the facades by which we maneuver our days. Oh, God, our Father, teach us how we may understand the movement of Thy spirit in our hearts as it leaves us in the traffic of life, to move with the strength and the independence of solitude. This is the way we feel as we wait in Thy presence. Oh, God, our Father, amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] is of the thinkings together on the parables of Jesus. And today, we are dealing with the parable that is, perhaps, most familiar to all persons acquainted with the Bible-- the story of the Good Samaritan. It's a very simple story, simply and directly told by Jesus. There was a man who raised a very searching question. He was a lawyer, as touching his faith and the rest of it. He said to Jesus, what may I do to inherit eternal life? It's very interesting how we cannot easily escape the necessity for insisting that you pay for everything you get on the one hand, and the persistent temptation to try to get everything without paying for it. It's a curious thing, isn't it? 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu On the one hand, we assume that you pay for everything you get. And since that's true, one of the games of life, it seems, is to try to prove that it isn't true. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Pitts Theology Library Emory University And Jesus told him, you know what the law says. What does the law say about it? And he quoted the great, timeless utterance about loving God with all one's mind, heart, soul, and strength and loving one's neighbor as oneself. And when Jesus insisted he should go and do that, then the man raised another question. Granted that it is true that I should love my neighbor as myself, how am to determine who is my neighbor? And in reply to that question, Jesus told a simple story, that a certain man went along a certain road. It was a very dangerous road from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And he fell among thieves. And thieves did to him what thieves would do. They took what he had. And he didn't like it so much. And he resisted, apparently. So they injured him and left him stripped of his goods and also sick, wounded. And along the way, came a priest who did not take any cognizance of his presence or condition. The great phrase is that he walked by on the other side. Much has been done with that. It's a nice phrase. And then another man came along who we'll see-- in a sense, a kind of assistant to the priest, but who represented also a whole hierarchy of cultural influences of his own. And he walked by without paying any attention to the destitute man by the roadside. And then a third man came by who was a Samaritan. The Samaritan was a man who, in the minds of many of the people who were listening to the story that Jesus told, a man who lived on the other side of the tracks. He was almost there, but wasn't quite there. So this Samaritan administered to the needs of this helpless man by pouring oil and wine on his wounds, cleaning him up. And then he put him on his donkey and carried him to a little resting place, an inn that evidently was protected. And he said to the innkeeper, now take care of this man. And any expenses beyond the money that I'm giving you now that are involved, I will repay you when I return. And Jesus said that the man who befriended the destitute individual was the man who showed the [INAUDIBLE] attitude. That's a very simple story. Very simple. Who is my neighbor, according to the story? Any man whose need calls me, and I respond to that need. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now, that's all. Now let's work at it for a little. There are two or three observations that I would make about this simple story. And the first observation is the recognition of the fact that it is a part of the pattern of cultures and civilizations to make a radical distinction between those who belong and those who do not belong. Pitts Theology Library Emory University One of the reasons why I think that the goals of religion, certainly this kind of religion, about which Jesus is insisting, the goals of religion and the goals of civilization must, of necessity, be mutually exclusive goals. For states and civilizations, for cultures deal with themselves in two positions of security and power and domination by seeing to it that a line is drawn between those who are and those who are not. It's an old distinction. Everybody who wasn't a Greek was a what? A barbarian. So that even now, on college and university campuses, if you are not unfortunate enough to be a member of a sorority or fraternity, you are called a barbarian. If you belong, you are a Greek. If you don't belong, you're a barbarian. If you're not a Jew, you're a gentile. And very, very recently, if you're not a capitalist, you're a communist. It's very interesting. You are either an Occidental, or you're an Oriental. It's an interesting thing. You belong to my group, my class, or you're an outsider. And the parallel that follows from that is that we are involved always, then, in operating on two levels at the same time. One could apparently obtain so where those who belong [INAUDIBLE] who do not belong. Now there are various things that are happening in the modern world that are cutting away at that, undermining it. But that belongs to another discussion. The separate-- those who are and those who are not. Now, there's something to be said for this insistence in cultures and civilizations. So let us not just brush it aside as being irrelevant and completely irrelevant and insignificant. But one of the ways, you see, by which men are able to build a core of [INAUDIBLE] meaning for themselves is to fend away all others for whose relation to whom would turn to destroy this sense of self that I'm building. It's a curious dilemma and a very, very difficult problem. The priestman develops his individuality by separating himself from the not-selfs and by building a kind of world-- a little world around himself. It is one of the ways by which we defend ourselves against the impersonal operations of the world of nature, by getting a house and by leveling an area, clearing the land, and pushing back the insistent growth of nature and protecting ourselves from rain and storm and hail. We make private our lives, in order that we might not be destroyed by the impersonal operations of the world of nature. We also make private our lives in relation to society, in order that we may not be destroyed by the impersonal operations of society. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu We relate ourselves to family. This is my family, not your family. And because this is my family, then to that extent, those who are not my family represent a level of relatedness to me that is not comparable to the relatedness of my family. Pitts Theology Library Emory University So who is my neighbor? Well, it seems as if the neighbor breaks down into two kinds at once-those that are my neighbor who are of a household of my life and meaning and values. And then if I have anything left then I share it with those who are next in line. Now, that seems to be the pattern. Now, over against that, Jesus comes with another kind of insistence which is very interesting. His insistence is that I am related to the other person, not to the world of his relation. Now I wish I had a blackboard because I'm drawing it here. We are not related to His position. We are not related to His race. We are not related to His creed. We are not related-- really, we are not related to His need. But before you disagree, think about it a little. We are not related to His need. We are related to Him-- to Him. Now, the second suggestion that that follows from that is that most of our relatedness is in terms of what people symbolize to us, what they are, what they need. Think back, now. We need not hurry with this part of it. Think back. When was the last time you gave something to help someone? [INAUDIBLE] Or you [INAUDIBLE] of [INAUDIBLE] or were you trying to say, I have so much, and I just can't afford not to do this because God has blessed me, and now I must show my blessing, my gratitude to God for his blessings, by sharing with this person who's in need? Was that the thing? Or did you share because you wanted to have a good night's sleep? And [INAUDIBLE] you knew that if you'd looked on that much human misery and had closed up the bowels of your compassion something would go out of your life that you needed? So in helping the other person, you were really administering to your own needs. Is that it? Is that it? Is that it? Or did you help because if you helped, it would put you in line for certain considerations which you knew down the road you would need, and when the time came, you would reap your reward? Or did you help because you felt that you were so secure and superior that you could afford to be gracious without undermining either your superiority or your security? What went through your mind when you gave some money to help somebody in need? What will go through your mind when you contribute to the community chest? What will go through your mind? Why would you do it? Why, if you do? Why? 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Is it because you relate yourself in just [INAUDIBLE]? Is it because you relate yourself to the other person's need? Or is it because you relate yourself to the other person? There's a difference. There's a difference. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Answer is another question-- a third, and we push it on and then tie it up. It seems as if Jesus is insisting that if we relate ourselves to human need, we must draw the line somewhere. If I relate myself to your need or to the needs of those around me, then at some point, I must call a halt. Now, where do you draw the line? Do you recognize need as long as there is available to you resources for meeting that need, which resources are part of your surplus? Or is the line drawn at the point of the other person's need, so that as long as the need persists, whatever I have is at the disposal of the need-- not of the person, but of the need? But of course, human need is infinite. And I can't make a quantitative impression on infinity. The number 5 bears the same relationship to infinity as the number 14,000,000 bears. And if human need is infinite and I devoted all of my life for 100,000 years and all of my resources to the meeting of human need, at the end of that time, the human need remaining would be infinite. So what do I do? Jesus seems to be insisting that we relate ourselves to the person. I want to talk about that just a little. I'll be through. And that is the most difficult thing to do. It is when you are related directly to the person that all of the personal, private, ethical problems that are involved in living become crucial. It is so much easier, for instance, to have an attitude of tolerance, if I may use that word-- to have an attitude of outgoing understanding towards someone to whom you're not related personally. But when you're related to a person personally, then you're so close up that everything is apt to be magnified so that it's much harder to forgive a national enemy, to shift the scene for a moment, than it is to forgive a personal enemy. Because if a person has gotten close enough to you so that you are related to that person, and they have gone into the matrix of your relatedness, all of the rich overtones of your private living and desiring and fellowship-- if all that has happened, then it means that in order to forgive that person so much more ground has to be covered. Because you must forgive at every point of your relatedness. [INAUDIBLE] That's why when you fall out with your sister you have such a hard time trying to get that thing straight. Or do you? Or when you fall out with your closest friend-- have you ever seen the kind of a distilled and [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] 5 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu that we love them. And what does He mean when He says that? He means that when I love, I go beyond the good and the evil in the object of my affection. Pitts Theology Library Emory University I deal with the person, not with the fact that he is lovable or unlovable if there's such a word. Not with the fact that he is gifted or not gifted. Not with the fact that he is healthy or unhealthy. Not with the fact that he is worthy or unworthy, that he's kind of unkind. All of that becomes secondary. The primary thing is that when I say "I love," it means that I'm involved in an encounter that leads from the core of me to the core of you, past all the good things I know about you, all the attractive things I know about you, beyond all of the bad things I know about you. And it makes contact with the core of you. And standing there, it works back this way to deal with the goodness and the badness. That's why I can never forgive a person if I don't love them that way. Because every time I try to deal with the person, I can't get to the person, because I am blocked by the thing and the person that I can't forgive. So I work up to it. And there it is. I come back, and I go around that way. [LAUGHTER] And as I move into it, there it is again. And I didn't know it was all over the place. I thought it was right here. [LAUGHTER] But not until I can get beyond the good and the evil, beyond the limitations, beyond all the wonderful things about you and all of the bad things about you, until at last I have a primary and intimate encounter with you, with the very core of you-- and once I do that, then it doesn't matter so much about all these other things. I can look at your goodness, your gifts, your talents, and rejoice without envy or judgment. I can look at your limitations and understand them without condemnation and bitterness. Now, Jesus says, that's the way God deals with human life. And that's the way we are supposed to deal with human life. What about it? Now, I don't know whether it makes sense to you or not. But that isn't important either. Are you willing to try that? Are you willing to try it, really? To work at it? And if you work at it, really work at it, despite all the things that we know about the psychology of relations and all the learned things-- if you really work at it, you can depend upon this-- that there will open up to you more and more the strength to keep on working at it. Not to achieve it-that is beside the point. 6 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University But that is the assignment of man and the degree to which he stays in school and works at it. To that degree, is it a reasonable thing to dream about a time when this world will be a decent place, for friendly men underneath a friendly sky? Let's try to see. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-549_A.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 5: the Good Samaritan and part 6: Commitment (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Oct 7, 21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-549_A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 5: The Good Samaritan, 1951 October 7 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-10-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Description An account of the resource In Part 5 of the Parables of Jesus, Thurman examines the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We are called to love our neighbor, but how do we determine who is our neighbor? Thurman suggests that the parable is inviting us beyond the distinctions that determine who we care for and who we do not. Love takes place beyond the worthiness or unworthiness of the beloved. This is the love that God has for human life, and is thus how we should love one another as well. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III. https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/files/original/3783f2119a551d10b1057ab5b4f1affe.pdf e78b0668087b2785d9b77b50cd15de8b PDF Text Text Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu 394-549_B.mp3 Pitts Theology Library Emory University May it grant his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it, lest happily after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, ha. This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000, or else while the others yet agree to be off, he sendeth them and [INAUDIBLE] and desirous conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. So it is good. But if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dung hills. But men cast it out. He that hath ears, let him hear. He that hath ears, let him hear. We are thinking together again this morning about certain of the very simple insights from the parables of Jesus, the stories that he told. And today, I'd like for you to think about the significance of being a disciple in the sense of being fundamentally committed to the religious experience and the religious livingness that dominated and the electrified and sustained the life of Jesus. That is a fundamental inspiration and the move-- I guess that's the word-- the move that Christianity made in its attack upon the Greek or Roman world, a world that was collapsing, that was disintegrating, that was full of disorder, a world that, as one British historian has described it, a world that had lost its nerve. Men have watched the coming of autumn. The leaves turned golden and red and all sorts of colors. And then they began to fall off. The leaves, the trees are stripped. And all the woods become stark and bare and barren. I guess that does not apply in California. Because in the wintertime, things get green out here. It's just a strange contradiction of life. But that's all right. This is the west. But we've watched that. Men have watched that for years, and then winter settling in, and everything tightening and closing in. And there seems to be no life. All the vitality is at a standstill. And then as the year unfolds, one morning, a new odor is in the air. And the back of winter seems to be broken. And there is a strange warmth in the sun. And then underneath the melting snows, the little flowers begin to stir and then grass and then the leaves. And before you know it, everything is new again. 1 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Now men have been observing that for as long as they have been aware of their environment. And they have found it a source of very great hope, naturalistic hope for themselves. I've known many people in my lifetime who were ill and who said, if I can make it through the winter, then when the renewal of life comes in the springtime, if, if my organism is not too broken to stand the resurgence of life, I shall live. It's interesting. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now what happened when the Christian movement saw this and when, by some amazingly-- I don't know what the word is-- miraculous insight, inspiration, the central character of their faith, a person was seen as one who, in his livingness, dramatized this thing that was happening in the world of nature. It's interesting. It's amazing. And when he dramatized it and they seized upon it and that became for them the new thing in their faith, the new outreach, so that wherever, in any part of the world, there were people who were depressed, wherever there were people who were distressed, who were disinherited, who were broken on the wheel, what was the word of this religion to them? We talk to you of one who brings to you the tiding that if winter comes, can spring be far behind? That is it. It's an interesting thing, isn't it? But that's not the point. Now, it is no wonder then that at the heart of the teaching is the insistence both upon love and upon sacrifice and appeal, a kind of appeal to the commitment of the total life of the individual. Now with that background, let's look at one or two of these parables. And I'll be through. Here as a man who started to build a tower. You've seen him in almost every city, haven't you. Every time I go to Indianapolis, I look for that particular set of about eight steel stories, just the building. Just the steel girders are standing there. It's been standing there for years. Something happened. It was a good plan, apparently. But something gave out. The result is that it's frozen. If you start to build a house and if you're wise, if you're sensible, you will count the cost so that you will know what's involved and then act accordingly. And I have never built a house. But I understand that even when you plan, as you know and you get the word from the people who also plan and know, when you get through with the house, it has been more expensive than your planning and your thinking indicated so that even when you think and plan, you are apt to be involved. Now what happens if you don't think and plan is disastrous. [LAUGHTER] Now very simple story-- if you are full of ideas, plans, enthusiasms, and don't have anything at the center of it, you burn out. That's what he said, simple, simple. Or if a man, if a king, is going to wage war and he has 10,000 men and his enemy has 20,000 men, the story is that if he doesn't seem to be able to take a calculating risk, he'll sue for peace, says the story-- interesting. And he prefaces these two stories with the fact that if you don't hate your mother and your father, your sister, your brother, you don't hate them. And we've worked over that. We've tried to make it say something else. But it still says that. And I wonder what would be your interpretation of the meaning of that? It would be very interesting if we could just stop now and have a little discussion. 2 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu If you don't hate your mother, father, hate all these people, then you have entangling alliances. And you can't be fully committed. Do you believe that? What do you think he's talking about? Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now doesn't mean that he's speaking lightly of these commitments. Or is he insisting that there is but one single and completely all-embracing commitment that is worthy of the human spirit, that if I am committed to anything that is merely equal to me, the commitment becomes an indictment that I must roam with a hungry heart until at last I can lay hold upon that in yielding to which I exhaust myself. And anything less than that is in the realm of tiddlywinks. It's amazing. You wonder why we have a so-called Christian civilization that doesn't bother with Jesus. He's the most dangerous, the most dangerous figure on the horizon of modern man. And if, if we seek to reproduce in ourselves the religion which he experienced, we shall destroy our civilization. And there shall not be one stone left on the other. So what do we do? We pray to him instead. What's easier? We just walk by, as they do once a year in the Soviet Union, I am told, on Lenin's birthday, passed before his [INAUDIBLE] and pay tribute. Because this is a dangerous man. Now I think they had just one more little thing so as not to confuse you from the main insight. It would seem that in this first parable of story, there is a word against showing too much enthusiasm, enthusiasm that does not have at its center a good, hard mind, understanding mind. And that is a word that falls upon very responsive ears in our time, because we are a generation that is afraid of our feelings. We don't like to feel too much. Because if you feel, then you're getting emotional, you know? And you can't get emotional. Because if you get emotional, then you go off half-cocked. You act without understanding, without responsibility. We delight in thinking that we are intellectuals, that we think our way through life, you know? Or do you? But is that true? Let's give your minds to it just a minute. Is it true? Or despite all the evidence apparently to the contrary, may it not be true that we feel our way through life? Now the interesting thing in this connection is that wherever the mind or all the intellectual process, the-- oh, how to say this-- the thinking process is merely committed to an idea or to a proposition or to a way of life. Then it is apt to be ineffective if that is the sole basis of the commitment. It is for this reason, I think, that the history of modern dictatorships reveals that among the first people who are captured or who are led captive by the dictator are the people who make up primarily the intellectual community. It is a matter of amazing interest and significance to me that resistance to the dictator, as far as our recent history of the rash of dictators with which we have been afflicted in our civilization over the past decade or two, with reference to that whole group of them, very rarely has there been any fundamental opposition to the inroads which they made upon the minds in an effort to capture the loyalty of the mind and the spirits, very little opposition on the part of the intellectual community. 3 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu The universities and the colleges did not, during times of tranquility and when men who are thinking great thoughts without too much social implication, provided the machinery that the clever, the intellectual ideology that the clever dictator could use and put body into, give it muscle, give it feeling tone, and let it stalk through the land and capture the emotions and the devotion of the masses of the people. Pitts Theology Library Emory University Now this is amazingly significant to me. And it suggests, you see, that any commitment, and this commitment about which Jesus speaks, must involve the mind, the thinking process. And it must involve the totality of the personality. That's the feeling tone as well. And if it doesn't involve the totality of the personality, then whatever is able to involve the totality of the personality will capture the loyalty of the individual. And I'll just-- please do not misunderstand what I saying or what I have said. It is no indictment against feelings or an indictment against minds. But when you separate them one from the other, even in theory, we perish. That's all I'm saying. Now is there anything that you know in the world, any dream, any hope, any idea, any commitment, that is capable? This morning as you think, sit here and think about it, is there anything that is capable of making an exhaustive demand upon your life so that, for its sake, you would feel that the greatest tribute that you could pay to your own life is to give your life for that thing? Do you know anything that affects you that way? Did you not hurry over this part? Just think for a moment, think. Or are you just living in bits so that this little part of you will go along with that and this little part of you will go along with that? And I mean, you're all scattered so that you are not the one piece with reference to anything. What is it that is capable of making you say, here I am? I am. I am, for better or for worse, and as you said, having only one regret. And that is that there isn't any more of you to give. Now whatever is capable of doing that for you is your redeemer. For at last, when you found that, you have found that which is capable of putting meaning into all the little things you do, all the fragmentary manifestations of your life, so that when you must make a decision as to what you shall do, there's only one crucial question. What is the bearing of that decision on this central theme? Now, if there's nothing that affects you in that way, if there's nothing that affects you in that way, you do not know what it means either to be whole or to be committed. That is why when someone like that hits your horizon and finally gets the focus on your eye, you drop your tools and follow him. That's the genius of the committed man, whether that commitment is to something that evil or good. When those of us who are not committed have our whole kin disturbed by this swift moving power of one who is completely involved, all of the limitations and inadequacies of our lives began to be revealed to us. And we want a sense of being of one piece so that in the living of our lives, we will be whole and not a house divided against itself. 4 �Pitts Theology Library The Howard Thurman Digital Archive Transcription thurman.pitts.emory.edu Pitts Theology Library Emory University That's what he's talking about. And that's why, in my judgment, Jesus of Nazareth is the greatest enemy of our civilization and our culture. 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Parables of Jesus (1951, Fellowship Church, San Francisco, CA) Description An account of the resource In this sermon series on the Parables of Jesus, Thurman walks listeners through the central themes of the parable. In the stories, Thurman finds Jesus pointing illustrating our deep human needs for community and wholeness. Thurman offers the sermons as invitations into Jesus' religious experience, which demonstrate for us what God is like, and what is required of us as disciples, children of God, and human beings in search of fulfillment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III and Erik Mattson. AudioWithTranscription Audio that is shown through the 3Play Media embedded interactive transcript Audio with Transcription <iframe width="100%" height="820" frameborder="0" src="/files/players/394-549_B.html" ></iframe> Location The location of the interview, speech, lecture, or sermon Fellowship Church, San Francisco, California Time Period The decade in which the recording was produced. 1950s Original Title Title as transcribed from tape cassette Parables of Jesus, part 5: the Good Samaritan and part 6: Commitment (Fellowship Church; Side 1), 1951 Oct 7, 21, Side B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 394-549_B Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Thurman, Howard Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/rp8k9">MSS 394</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="http://pitts.emory.edu/">Pitts Theology Library, Emory University</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img style="border-width:0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" alt="80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>. 2019. Title A name given to the resource Parables of Jesus, Part 6: Commitment, 1951 October 21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-13627798.925371 4550756.1096806)) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951-10-21 Description An account of the resource In Part 6 of the Parables of Jesus sermon series, Thurman explores the topic of commitment through the Parables of the Tower Builder and the Warring King. For Thurman, to be a disciple is to be committed to the religious experience that "dominated, electrified, and sustained the life of Jesus." This sort of commitment is not just commitment of the mind, but rather it must be done with the totality of one's being, or else the commitment will not last. To commit in such a way is to experience wholeness, to be redeemed, and to set order to our lives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Description by Rodell Jefferson III.